FAR FROM being an isolated oulpost during the Second World War, Terrace soon gat the feel. ing it was in the middle of things.

. Local people were not only signing up for service in the arined forces but those at home faced rationing and civil defence duties,

~ Geography played a role. Ter-

race nay be thousands of miles Jrom Europe, but the entry of Japan into the war in late 194] brought the possibility af conflict very close to home,

Below is a smattering of local articles from those war years.

And, with 1995 being the $0th anniversary of the Second World War, The Terrace Standard will be printing additional related ar- ticles,

canada ® Pane ener

THE PROSPECT of war which might have serious results in Can- ada from a number of un- desirable citizens, or from outside enemies, was brought to the at- tention of local people last Sun- day when Constables Grant and Olson were despatched to Skeena Crossing to guard the railway ~ bridge there until relieved by reg- ular militia,

On Tuesday moming Lieut. ‘Trevor Johnston and 17 men of the 102nd Heavy Artillery, Prince

Rupert, arrived and took over

from the two constables,

~The. Prince Rupert men will

remain until Thursday afternoon. _ A detachment from the Irish Fusiliers, Vancouver, will arrive _ Thursday moming.

The soldiers will be quartered in the old Copper Tavern at Skeena Crossing which is owned by David Pratt.

(Omineca Herald, Aug. 30, 1939.) ,

Sugar rationing SUGAR RATIONING won't hurt anyone. According to nutritionists sugar docs noth- ing more than supply quick - energy and creates an appetite

for more sugar.

Gradually reduce amounts in tea or coffee and on cereals.

. Serve fruits in season and in their natural state instead of cakes, pies or puddings.

Honey, com syrup, maple products or molasses can be substituted,

{The Omineca Heraid. May 13, 1942.)

POWs freed

IT IS just a few weeks since Stalagiut VI at Konigsberg was closed and the 3,900 Ca- nadian and Imperial airforce prisoners moved to other camps,

With B.C.’s roll of prisoners of war increasing with every casualty list that reaches this district, the Red Cross asks that relatives receiving in- formation of son or husband held a prisoner, get in touch with their nearest Red Cross branch as soon as possible.

In this way contact with the prisoner can be established without delay and while next- of-kin parcels cannot be sent unlil the camp number is received, cables and mail can be despatched immediately.

- (Omineca Herald, Oct, 11, 1944,)

Birch wanted

A REPRESENTATIVE of Pacific Mills at New West- ‘minster was in the district last week looking up birch logs for shipment south. The birch is used in airplane '.. | construction, _ {Omineca Herald, Feb, 25,

1942)

T R A

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vee eg tart C guse righting For 2 Sst an a igst German so oe une won Germany \ Joins in Decl ets "A Liberated oe On —~ eeps France iintctey Predicts EX ur

FOREST SERVICE lookout man, wearing the hat, greets guests from the armed forces. This photo

was taken on Thornhill Mountain in 1943, In the background on the left is the outline of Lakelse Lake. Behind that, lies the area which is now Kitimat. From a small town of 500 at the start of the

war, Terrace found itself the home to nearly 10,000 troops and a military airport.

Japanese wanted to. build Rupert road ©

The federal government acted quickly in 1942 to confiscate possessions and inter Canadians of Japanese descent or people who had emigrated from Japan.

ELT. Kenney, a prominent northwest provincial politician (Aican’s Kenney Dam is named after him) had an idea.

IF FHE federal authority pur- sues its pian for removing Japa- nese from coastal defence areas, there will be no derth of employ- ment for these enigmatic Acadians of 1942,

In fact, we might find that there aren’t enough Japanese to go around.

It begins to seem that each Honourable-Member has his own pet project which is sitting up and begging for Japanese labour.

I talked with a northern member about a road,

The northerner is Edward T. Kenney, Liberal member of Skeena.

His road, which would give Prince Rupert a long sought out- Ket to the cast and go far toward

calming Rupert’s current and jus-

tifiable jitters means very much more to the folk of Skeena coun-

Towns prepare for

The threat of a Japanese attack was considered very real after that country expanded hostilities by attacking Pearl Harbour in December 1941.

In addition to the possibility of tavasion, one threat lay in in- cendiary devices attached to bat- fons and sent aloft by Japanese forces on the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska,

Here's how area residents responded,

THERE WAS a splendid turnout al the public meeting on Friday night to consider the matter of Civil Protection in case ‘of a war emergency.

J.H. Willan occupied the chair and Miss Nelson was appointed secretary.” a

The chairman and others gave

“The federal government can’t justify its national defence expenditures at Prince Rupert unless it hooks up that city with Canada by way of a high- way into the interior.”’

try than any hypothetical Alaska highway. ;

Here is the way he states the case:

“The federal government can’t justify iis national defence ex- penditures at Prince Rupert unless it hooks up that city with Canada by way ofa highway into the in- terior.

“If hostilities break out on our Pacific Coast, Rupert is, in my judgment, the most vulnerable point, It’s closer to Japan than any other Canadian city.

“In the 500 miles of coast line north of Vancouver, there isn’t a single highway exit. The Japa- nese are in a position fo cut the

an outline of what was being done in the old town and similar lines followed here.

Mrs. Larkworthy volunteered to see to the necessary first aid equipment and to instruct Nellic Smith and Margartet Willan in how to do the work.

She asked for the use of the community hall as a first aid sta- tion, with costs and equipment.

The meeling decided to see if smaller and more suitable quarters could nol be secured, and the wardens were asked to see to this and report back to another meeting on Thursday night of this week.

To provide funds for first aid equipment an assessment was made of 50 cents a household,

- and W.H, Lanmer was appointed to collect same and to act as

only lifelines Prince Rupert has, the sea route to the south and the Canadian National Railway. If we were attacked from the sea, and the railway line were cut, we would be caught like rats in a trap.”? .

Twelve miles of completed highway wind east along the Skeena from Rupert. Then comes 83 miles of unbroken wilderness before you pick up the road again near Terrace, =~

That first and longest break in the highway can be closed later. Now, this year, the Skeena mem- ber urges, complete Canada’s highway system as far as Terrace by spanning the other gap, the one which is a mere 18 miles across. The gap lies east or in- land,

As to housing the work crews, white woodsmen and labourers who pushed the road to its present Stage lived in log bunkhovses built from the almost over- abundant timber of the Land, and it would be no hardship for Japa- nese crews to do the same.

(From a4 Vancouver Province article reprinted in the Omineca Herald, Jan. 28, 1942.)

attack ©

treasurer. (Omineca Herald, Feb. 25,

1942)

_ kkk kk HAZELTON IS being organized against any possible attack from the Japanese or other enemy.

A meeting was held Monday night immediately the annual Red Cross mecting and It was decided to form an ARP association.

James Tumbull was clected to the chair and the chairman was asked to get in touch with the authorities and see if it was pos- sible to get a siren to put on top of one of the buildings in town ta give the alarm,

_ A telephone call will be used in - case of an alarm and those who have phones will be asked to warn those. who have no phones, and to see that all lights are out. -

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 29, 1995 - AS

ES | CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD

The Mail Bag

Hysterical reaction Dear Sir:

Euro-Canadians like to think of Canada as a peacefil, tolerant society, But fear and hatred of Indians is Just a breath away. All it tekes to inflame these passions of hatred is for someone to kill the proverbial goose,

It docsn’t matter that aboriginal people are politically powerless 99.99% of the time. It doesn’t matter that the political institutions in Canada and the United States were designed primarily to relieve aboriginal people of their lands and its resources.

Witness Allan Grier’s hysterical reaction to the death of his pet project, the Kemano Completion Project in The Terrace Standard, dated February 15, 1995,

The white supremacist mentality that victimize the black people in

the southern U.S. states appears to have found a niche in the Pacific Northwest and across Canada for that matter. [ have studied the psycho-socio-economic of this mindset to try to understand why it _ is so pervasive and resistant to change. It is my opinion that for the likes of Allan Grier, it is too late. He :is deeply entrenched in this Euro-imperialistic. ideology that they have a right to aboriginal peoples’ land, because they deem aboriginal use of the land inferior,

Even after 500 years, the question that has not been answered is, ““By what right did Europeans relieve aboriginal people of their Jand and their culture?’” OF course, I don’t expect Allan Grier to give a rational answer to this question.

His colossal ignorance about aboriginal people and Revenue Can- ada, and about the so called freebies that First Nations people sup- posedly enjoy, make him an excellent candidate for membership in the Reform Party. _

I say, go for it, Allan. The Reform Party deserves people like you — young, white, and uneducable, Be we

Ray Guno, New Aiyansh, BC,

An openletter to: : 4 : ae oe | Andrew Petter . Forests Minister

Dear Sir: EU ee a

Myself and my family live in Elsworth Camp in Meziadin Lake, and I am presently employed by Orenda Logging Ltd. as a secre- lary. My family has lived in Elsworth Camp for the past two years and if the forest licence of Orenda was pulled, we would be forced to move. I would lose my job, a reliable, well trasted babysitter and possibly my home.

We would put ovr place up for sale but in alf liketihood who would buy it? We would also Iook into the option of moving our mobile home but unfortunately there are few towns with vacant lots for mobile homes. .

If forced to relocate we will have to look for other jobs and a well trusted sitter for our son. This is if we could find decent jobs,

My husband and I are in our early twenties and have depended on or residence at Elsworth, and on employment throughout the camp.

‘Orenda has offered me much training in the forestry industry which otherwise I would not have obtained. ,

It would be in the best interest if all the families here that Orenda maintained its licence, :

Sherry Ann Sargent,

Meziadin Lake, B.C. eS ee Se ee An opentettertos 0 Andrew Petter - Forests Minister = Dear Sir: _

My husband contracts for Elsworth. He came up here seven years age with one loader. Since then he now owns more equipment and employs cight people. ope Tea

By pulling the Orenda licence, it not only affects us and the people we employ, but also businesses we deal with in Terrace and Stewart, We also spend money in Smithers and Prince Rupert.

I moved up to Meziadin area six years ago from 100 Mile House to be with my husband.

Coming to this area was a shock for me — to a place that had no hydro, no telephone system for our home, having to drive 2 1/2 hours to go shopping in Terrace or a forty-five minute drive into Stewart. In itself that’s a trial in the winter time, ;

It made me feel like I was going back in time’and to also be so far from my family and grandchildren. As with anything you learn to adjust, especially when you know that’s where your husband is making a living. :

Tf you go ahead with what your planning you will be affecting so many people and also all the people we deal with, © = .. Mezladin Lake, B.C,

_ i kk An openletterto:: 0 Andrew Petter Forests Minister

Dear Sir: ; PS eon G.D.W. Logging Ltd. employs around eight to ten people nine and a half to ten months of the year. We employ people from Ter- race and Stewart, — Be Rag bo Our payroll for. the subcontractors averages around $55,000 - $56,000 a month. Our hourly average is around $16,000. month. From this contract alone we support a lot of businesses around Terrace and Stewart, Finning alone makes a lot of moicy from us, plus others and not to mention what goes to the Receiver Geucral, G.S.T., Workers’ Compensation and book keeping services, In tura, the people we employ spend their pay cheques between Terrace and Stewart, You really have to stop and ‘look at the whole _ Picture instead of one little corner.” eae :

- G.D.W. Logging Ltd,, . Meziadin Lake, B.C.

Road money needed

Dear Sin |.

to go shopping or to the movies or to visit friends arid relatives. And we rely on roads to enable fire fighters, ambulances and other safety services 10 reach us. et PR ht Government responds to the ‘squeaky wheel” and I suggest that it’s time for us to speak out on the inadequacy of investment in our road system, ; pe

Gheon Walsh, Chairman

B.C, Road Builders and Heavy Construction Assoc,

We use roads to get to and from work, to take children to school;

——